History as institutional memory for officers

History supplies institutional memory that a short officer course cannot carry by itself. Modern courses grew from the shortened programmes introduced during the Second World War, leaving curriculum debates framed as a choice between one subject and another. One proposed alternative is to add four or eight weeks so that officers can learn more without dropping existing material. Recent amphibious experience presents a related problem: postwar operations have mostly involved raids by small forces and precision strikes. That experience suits another raid, but it offers little preparation for a major assault or intervention. The Falklands War was larger than most recent operations, yet smaller than major Second World War amphibious operations. Historians preserve the larger cases that officers may need when no service can afford a permanent staff with current experience of operations on that scale.